COTTID^.-TRIGLID^. 
585 
Genus COTTX7S (Artedi), Linnaeus. 
[Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1758, p. 264.] 
Head feebly armed ; preoperculum more or less spiny ; 6 
branchiostegal rays. Vertebrae about 30 to 35 in number, more 
than half being caudal. Pelvic fins with one small spine and four 
articulated rays ; dorsal fins separate, the first with 6 to 10 slender 
spines ; anal fin with 9 to 20 rays; caudal fin rounded. Scales 
absent, but minute prickles sometimes present. 
Characteristic of the freshwaters and shores of northern tem¬ 
perate regions. 
There do not appear to be any fossils in the Collection referable- 
to this genus. Kemains of the existing Arctic species, Coitus 
uncinatus, Eeinhardt, have been recorded from nodules in Pleisto¬ 
cene Clay, Green’s Creek, Ottawa, Canada (J.. W. Dawson, Canad. 
llecord Sci. vol, iv. 1890, p. 86). Detached bones of the existing 
Coitus quadricornis^ Linn., var. relicta, Lilljeborg, have also been 
identified from the Pleistocene of Skattmanso, Upland, Sweden 
(A. G. Nathorst, Geol. Poren. Stockholm Porhandl. vol. xv. 1893, 
p. 569, figs. 8, 9, 12, 13). 
The names Coitus crypiotremus, divaricatus, hypoceras, and? 
pontifex are given to preopercula supposed to represent four extinct 
species from Preshwater Tertiary deposits in Idaho and Oregon, 
U.S.A. (E. D. Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1883, pp. 162-164). 
Nothing is known of the undescribed Coitus horridus (J. J. Heckel, 
Neues Jahrb. 1849, p. 499) from Wieliczka, Galicia. 
An otolith from the Lower Tertiary of the Jackson Diver, 
Mississippi, has been referred to a member of this family under the 
name of Otolithus {Cottidarum) sulcatus (E. Koken, Zeitschr. deutsch. 
geol. Ges. vol. xl. 1888, p. 287, pi. xviii. fig. 12). 
Family TRIGLID^. 
Suborbitals enlarged and covering cheek; mouth terminal, with 
minute teeth. Abdominal vertebrae with transverse processes very 
short or absent. Post-temporal bone fused with cranium, and supra- 
clavicle displaced backwards so that the post-temporal and clavicle 
are in contact. Pectoral fins laterally placed and expanded, with 
pelvic fins directly beneath; spinous dorsal less extended than soft 
dorsal, which is similar to the spineless anal. Squamation regular, 
and no bony scutes except along lateral line. 
